Who (or What) is Exalted?

Worship divides. That one word can take a local church and make it two local churches. I would say, however, that division is not even close to what God intended when He commanded worship. That which God institutes is good, and its purpose is good. Mankind, however, has changed the very command of God, the institution of God, to something that it was never meant to be. If I can restate my original statement as “worship” divides, perhaps that will make it a bit clearer. The church has redefined worship to the point that the outcome of it is counterproductive to its original intention.
The church has made worship about sound, feeling, and performance. God intended it to be about truth, Christ, and perspective. It is a time of realizing who we are, not by focusing on ourselves and our preferences, but by focusing on our Creator and His perfection. True worship may involve any number of things, whether singing, praying, preaching, reading, serving, etc. But true worship binds the body of Christ in exaltation of the Head. It does not divide the body in glorification of the parts. The arm is not more important than the foot; neither is the arm’s favorite musical style (or the foot’s favorite translation). The list may continue.
Fights (figurative of course) do nothing but divide the body and draw attention to those involved. To state the obvious, Jesus Christ is not one of those involved in the fights. He does not receive the attention, but people do. He is not praised, but the “winning” side is. That’s not worship, regardless of whether you are singing your heart out every Sunday. If you harbor hatred, anger, or ill-feeling against your brother (or he against you), Christ does not want your offering (Matthew 5:23-24). It is not worship to Jesus. His body is torn apart by superstition. As our author would say, the church has raised an avenue of worship to worship itself, and Christ’s reputation has suffered for it. We are to be known by our love, not our musical style. What does it say of Christ when His followers are able to set aside personal preferences because they want to join together to worship their King? That is worship: God’s people following God’s commands for God’s glory.